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Bats in New Orleans

Small bites of pop culture

Houston Chronicle

By LANA BERKOWITZ
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

30 October 2005

Besides the cool title and seeing Xena's Lucy Lawless reprise her Locusts' role, there's another good reason to check out tonight's Vampire Bats on CBS: the New Orleans scenery.

Most of the TV movie was shot in the Big Easy just before the hurricane hit. The Vampire Bats cast and crew were Katrina evacuees.

 

Lawless says they left New Orleans 24 hours before Katrina made landfall. Their destination was Los Angeles, but seven hours later they stopped in Baton Rouge.

After two days in Baton Rouge, the crew realized there was no going back to New Orleans, so the last week of production was moved to Nova Scotia, where filming for BTK Killer was wrapping up.

Most of Vampire Bats' outdoor shots were filmed in New Orleans, except the cemetery scene.

"I've seen photos of locations where we've shot, and there's total, total devastation," Lawless said.

After filming Locusts and returning for Vampire Bats, Lawless had grown fond of the area. She was talking with producer Jill Tanner about going halvsies on a house in New Orleans before the hurricane hit.

"I would have moved there," Lawless said. "I totally fell in love with it."

• Vampire Bats , 8 tonight on CBS/Channel 11.

To the Batcave

Question of the day: Who is Lucy Lawless' favorite Batman?

"I love Christian Bale. But I have to go with Adam West because I have such an appetite for kitsch, and he was a genius at spilling those lines in all seriousness.

"My favorite villain would be Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter."

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